Feb. 21 - EREMS joins the the Martian moons exploration

MMX, short for “Martian Moons eXploration”, is going to explore and study Mars’ two moons Deimos & Phobos. EREMS will develop the Power Control and Distribution Unit (PCDU) of the little rover which will land on Phobos.

Initiated by the JAXA, MMX, short for “Martian Moons eXploration”, is going to explore and study Mars’ two moons Deimos & Phobos while determining and analysing their mineral and elementary composition.

EREMS will provide the CNES with the Power Control and Distribution Unit (PCDU) of the little rover which will land on Phobos, the bigger of the two moons, in order to study its regolith and bring back samples of it.

A risky exercise with high stakes: the rover, developed in cooperation between CNES and the German national Space Agency will be dropped approximately a hundred meter above Phobos’ ground. As the gravity there is very low, the vehicle should not crash during landing. After bouncing a few times, it will stand up straight, deploy its solar panels and turn towards the Sun, as showed in this video.

It will be the first time that a space vehicle travels on a heavenly body with such low gravity, thus demonstrating that it is possible and that the use of rovers is worth considering for other stars with higher gravity than Phobos as asteroids for examples.

To learn more, please visit the project’s website.